Linking the Indo-US nuclear deal to the question of an independent foreign policy, the CPM is attempting to get other political parties to express themselves on the issue and enable a political consensus in Parliament by circulating a note that says talks in the US Congress on the agreement were going against the assurances given by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to Parliament.

CPM general secretary Prakash Karat said objections to the Indo-US nuclear deal were “no longer a party issue” and it was necessary for Parliament to express itself on the deal because the US had “resiled” on its part of the agreement and shifted the goalposts.

“The Indian government should be bound by what is decided by Parliament based on what the Prime Minister had said (on the issues of reciprocity and sequencing). We only want the Indian government to stick to the Prime Minister’s statement.”

A note to this effect (prepared by the CPM on the nuclear deal) would be submitted to political parties, including the Congress, Karat said, adding he believed that the issues raised by the CPM had wide political support.

He said it was not too late to pull out of the deal as the final agreement would happen only after the legislation was approved by the US Congress, India signed the additional protocol with the IAEA and the Indian Atomic Energy Act was amended.

Karat raised concerns on locking India’s foreign policy to US interests, and signing an agreement that far from giving India an advantage to develop nuclear technology actually put it in an “opposite” situation.

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